Boston Mayoral Debate Video

Apparently, the video of the Boston mayoral debate, which was supposed to be available for “on-demand” viewing from Comcast until the election, was only up for 48 hours after the debate. I don’t understand why it’s not just online—it seems to that political debates are the ideal sort of non-copyright-sensitive content that ought to be freely available on the Internet. The Supreme Court has noted that the Internet is “a vast platform from which the public may address and hear from a worldwide audience of millions.” Reno v. ACLU, 521 U.S. 844, 853 (1997). So why isn’t it working on this local political issue?

If has a link to a video of the debate online, please let me know. If not, if anyone has a videotape of the event, contact me, and I’ll put it up here.

5 comments

  1. Matt Jan 28

    I don’t know how it is in Boston, but in France, political communication and poll results are forbidden during the last days of an election, to avoid last minute opinion manipulation.
    Poll results hosted on the web in other countries are, perforce, tolerated and ignored by the electoral comission, but any other irregularity would surely cancell the result of the election.
    Perharps that’s why the debate you’re talking about is not online anymore ?

  2. Adam Rosi-Kessel Jan 28

    Matt: the election isn’t until November. It appears that the debate is no longer available because of a screw-up with the cable company. There may, in fact, be a rule that it should not be broadcast immediately before the election, though.

  3. Glen Jan 28

    Hey Matt,

    I agree with your initial post. I’m an Australian writing a screenplay set in Boston. It includes a mayoral election. Hence, my interest. I have been unable to find the full video. There are some clips on NECN’s web site. Quite funny when Maura broke the rules of the “town meeting” and asked Menino directly if he would actually challenge her to a debate. Anyway if you’ve found a link or have a full vid or anything I’d love to know where it is.

  4. Glen Jan 28

    Whoops, that was meant for you Adam.

  5. Ron Newman Jan 28

    Try this:

    http://greaterboston.tv/features/gb_20050928_mayor.html

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